The Southwestern Michigan Economic Growth Alliance, headquartered in Niles, announced today that the Berrien County Manufacturer's Council is expanding into Cass and Van Buren Counties with the help of Kinexus. As a result, the main focus of the council will center on talent development in the local workforce.
Barkley Garrett, who took over the reins at the Southwestern Michigan Economic Growth Alliance just after the first of the year, is working hard to kick-start attraction, retention and expansion in the industrial marketplace, and hears continually of the workforce talent issue. His organization has been acting in the dual role of heading up the Berrien County Manufacturer's Council for a number of years and now Kinexus is helping expand to a tri-county approach.
Amber Layman, the Sector Strategy Manager for the Kinexus Business Division has put out a call to all manufacturers in the tri-county area who are interested in raising awareness to the importance of manufacturing by engaging one another, the local community, elected officials, and national coalitions to enhance focus on industry conditions. They want to create economic growth and manufacturing investment while instilling partnerships to sustain the skilled trades talent pipeline.
Layman's call is to anyone in the manufacturing industry interested in collaborating with like-minded professionals engaged in tooling, machining, robotics, and manufacturing. The re-formed Manufacturer's Council will provide a forum for discussing and proposing solutions to industry related problems.
The council's new focus will center on talent development in the local workforce. With Kinexus at the helm, they will work on multiple fronts to engage and train better, skilled manufacturing employees. Layman says, "There is an increasing demand for highly skilled professionals in the manufacturing sector who can design, program and operate technology. The average age of a manufacturing employee is 56, and between now and 2020 there will be an unprecedented shortage of skilled workers who will need to be replaced."
The Tri-County Manufacturer's Council will address such issues and begin to build strategic and long-lasting partnerships to ensure industry sustainability.
As part of the effort to change people's perceptions about today's manufacturing environment and draw attention to the outstanding opportunities that a career in manufacturing can provide, the Tri-County Council will play a significant role in next month's designated Manufacturing Day. That's an annual national event, executed at the local level, supported by thousands of manufacturers as they host students, teachers. parents, job seekers, and other local community members at open houses, plant tours, and presentations designed to showcase modern manufacturing technology and careers. This year's events are slated for Friday, October 7th in both Berrien and Van Buren Counties as we reported earlier here on Moody on the Market.com. You can see that story by clicking the link below:
